Breaking Ground: Women in California Clay / AMOCA

Breaking Ground: Women in California Clay at AMOCA, celebrating 44 artists who have defined—and redefined—ceramics over the past 100 years. Many of the Golden State’s most innovative and impactful ceramic artists in the 20th and 21st centuries are women who faced adversity due to gender inequality and were often ignored or overlooked in favor of their male counterparts. These incredibly determined women pushed forward, driven by creativity and tenacity.

The exhibition is co-curated by Beth Ann Gerstein (Executive Director), Jo Lauria (Adjunct Curator), and Edith Garcia (Professor, California College of the Arts and University of California, Berkeley).

The exhibition is arranged chronologically, with the first group named "breaking ground." This includes Vivika Heino.

A pretty great Heino.

Heino glaze tests. I love this.

Marguerite Wildenhain

Wildenhain's production porcelain airplane cup from her Bauhaus days.

Laura Andreson

Another Andreson piece.

Ruth Rippon

Elaine Katzer

Beatrice Wood

Beato up close

Gertrud Natzler

Gertrud without Otto's glaze seemed like a fitting piece to be on display.

The magic was really the couple working together. Otto's work after Gertrud passed took on a very different and heavier look.

The second section includes artists "...who explored—or are exploring—the female figure, feminism, and the creation of the perfect form."

Dora De Larios

Magdalena Suarez Frimkess

Another Magdalena display case

And the other side of the vase above.

Nancy Selvin

Marilyn Levine

How did Marilyn Levine do this with clay?

Viola Frey

Judy Chicago

Viola Frey in the foreground

Another and quite large piece by Dora De Larios

Through the vault of the former bank building leads us to the contemporary works by a "...younger generation of artists working to shift the perspective”